Colorism has always been a big problem not only in Asia but worldwide throughout history. Specifically, in East Asian countries, society prefers fairer skin tones more than darker ones. Geographically, the Philippines is located in an area where the people who live there have a natural brown/tan skin tone. Unfortunately, over time, society began to normalize, believing that lighter skin tones were seen as more attractive than their natural skin tone.
In Filipino culture, there are three main categories where people fall under: Chinita/o, Morena/o, and Mestiza/o. Each category has its skin tone and cultural decent. The Philippines has a mixed ethnic culture due to colonization by numerous countries before gaining its independence. People who are Chinita, have fair skin tones with South Asian heritage (Chinese or Japanese). Morena's have brown or darker skin and it is the most common skin tone that is found in the Philippines. Finally, Mestiza's have a light to tan skin tone with Spanish heritage.
In this Ted Talk, the speaker Bianca talks about her experience with colorism in Filipino culture. She talks about the discrimination she faced from her own family and the low self-esteem issues that she developed over time. She claimed that her grandmother said that she was only 'pretty for a brown girl' and that she could never see her as 'wholly beautiful' because she had brown skin. Bianca shared her experiences with skin bleaching as a way to fit in with the culture and it led to consequences such as being in pain from skin irritation.
Recently on social media such as YouTube, TikTok, & Instagram, many videos have gone viral of someone interviewing random men or women whether they preferred a Chinita/o, Morena/o, or Mestiza/o significant other. Unfortunately, there is a popular trend in a majority of the videos where most people prefer a fair-skinned (Chinita) partner over a dark-skinned partner. These videos prove how far along colorism has come in Filipino culture because they show how many people were raised to believe that light skin equals real beauty.
As said earlier colorism is deeply rooted in Filipino culture from colonization. European/Spanish and Chinese features are deeply sought after as it was integrated into the culture over hundreds of years of colonization. The colonizers were known to have fair skin and were wealthy and powerful compared to the natives who were poor and dark-skinned. Over time fair skin became a beauty standard because it meant that you would have a resemblance to the colonizers which would automatically consider you attractive in society. However, some people in this culture still see having dark skin as being dirty, ugly, and poor when in reality it is just a skin tone and it has nothing to do with your status as a human being.
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